Well I have to totally agree with you guys on your decision to homeschool Hannah. I homeschool two of my children and one goes to public school. The oldest didn't want to home school so she was given the choice. All three of my children have been given the choice, and they are HAPPY in home school.

As far as the socialization they get in public school....yes that was great for my son's self esteem to be called a girl by his teacher because the red dye we used in his hair for halloween turned pink and took a few days to wash out. It was great for his self esteem to be beaten up in school and have his backback straps cut in half, his assignments stolen by the "bullies" and torn up so he failed many of his classes. It was GREAT for him to have that kind of interaction to beat him down when he defended another child who was being picked on. The school did NOTHING to help me with the problems, even though they were given the names of the children and we had NUMEROUS meetings with teachers and school personally. My son, in home school is now getting As and Bs and is HAPPY not to be subjected to the torment.

He is in a /gasp! state funded homeschool online charter school and yes, we got a computer for it, but guess what?? I pay my taxes for education, I am as entitled to use those taxes to fund my child's at home education as those who send their children to public school use our taxes there.

My youngest child is happy in home school, she has also been in public school. They have learned SO much more than they learned when they were in public school. My son told me he learned more in two months worth of home school than he ever did in public. He has teachers for each class, has online discussions with other students in his classes, he belong to the Boy Scouts in our area, so yes, he gets his socialization, he just doesn't have to have the torment and BS than can sometimes go along with public school.

Everyone has their own ideas about what is best for their child, but I think it is wrong to dictate to someone else they are wrong in their decisions, and do not have the right to school funding assistance from the government for programs available if they choose to home school. I honeslty feel my children are better served by home schooling than they were ever served by public schooling.

As sparks mentioned, they were lost in a seas of large class sizes, didn't get the help they needed when tey didn't understand, and their eudcation suffered. We can spend as long as we need to on difficult things and explain things in ways they can understand now.

Sparks and Puckstop, you made some great points about why homeschooling can be such a great thing for those who choose to go that route. I think it's great that we are able to have such a choice, whether it be for home schooling or public schooling.